Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship’s Post

NOT Ricky Bobby: “If you’re not running fast, you’re standing still.” (An Indian national security leader at the INDUS X Summit on the need for speed in innovation) Some quotes and themes from the two day INDUS X Summit at Stanford: - This is a consequential partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies. - We need to dream bigger and move faster. - From former Sec State Condi Rice: we both have huge populations that have been left out, and the technologies we co-develop need to benefit them. The real strengths will be the enduring relationships among our people. - We need to narrow the valley of death. The opportunities are there, the time is right. - DIU is rightly indexed against the hardest problem. - We have the talent, we have the tech, we have to bring it all together to achieve strategic effects. - Empowered individuals anchored on a common objective move at speed. - At INDOPACOM we are relentlessly pursuing decision superiority. - We have to see and sense from the seabed to the stars Let’s get after it. #INDUSX #innovation #nationalsecurity #defense

This is a critical time for our nation’s defense. What does the future hold, given the issues of supply chain security, shrinking R&D budgets, skills shortage, and increasing adoption of commercial technologies? Innovative thinking is essential. This should be a very interesting panel. #DefenseTechnology #Cybersecurity Abacode Cybersecurity & Compliance

MEGA ANNOUNCEMENT: the DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office and Tradewinds Team are hosting the FIRST DoD CDAO SBIR Tech Expo, 22-26 April! The objective of this COMPLETELY #virtual event is to help Vendors get their awesome #data-and #AI-centric solutions to all corners of the Government and help transition from prototype to fielded product. This event will support up to 400 vendor presentations, and ANYONE with a .mil or .gov Email can sign up to watch and interact! INDUSTRY: Have you completed a project and can’t figure out how to reach new customers in DoD? Sign up for this event. Have you completed a Phase 1 #SBIR and need a sponsor for your Phase 2 follow-on proposal? Sign up for this event! Did you win a “selected but unfunded” D2P2 and are trying to find someone to pick up the tab? SIGN UP FOR THIS EVENT! Are you a non-traditional defense contractor who has done some work already? Or maybe you just want to learn how to simplify your post-award transition with a flexible contract opportunity in Tradewinds? SIGN. UP. TO. PRESENT! GOVERNMENT: Dont recreate the wheel with a new SBIR request- get exposure to projects that have ALREADY been started. Connect with Industry and their Mission sponsors to get some of that sweet sweet synergy! Don’t have all week to spend at a conference? No problem, only sign up for sessions that look interesting to you and watch them from your desk! I will be doing a deep-dive series of blog posts on this intricacies of this event over the coming days. Please share this far and wide! Let’s get #DoDSBIRExpo trending! Government Link: https://lnkd.in/gH5i8AVW Industry Link: https://lnkd.in/gDhfyBZ3 NOTE- you must complete this form AND submit a one-page summary of your project prior to the April 3 deadline to present #machinelearning #datascience #digitaltransformation Stephanie Wilson | Bonnie Evangelista | AFWERX | NavalX | Army SBIR|STTR Program | DoD SBIR STTR Program Office | Department of the Air Force Chief Data and AI Office | Air Force Test Center | U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) | Navy SBIR/STTR Transition Program (Navy STP) | Department of the Navy Office of Small Business Programs | Air Force Research Laboratory | Air Force Materiel Command | Marine Corps Systems Command | United States Air Force | UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY | US Army | U.S. Department of State | National Security Agency | Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs | Central Intelligence Agency | Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) | Tammer Barkouki | Kathy Reid | The Outpost | Dave Harden | Russell Long | Long Capture | SBIR Advisors Inc. | Miji McConnell | John Ferry | Brian Morrison | Tesseract AF | Mobilize VISION | Jade Baranski | SightLine Ventures Inc. |

After a week of discussing SBIRs, and giving an podcast interview on AI in government yesterday, this opportunity seem very appropriate to highlight... The highlights that should concern you as a potential industry participant: 1. It's virtual, so the cost to participate is far lower than in-person events 2. Very wide DoD exposure for engagement with potential customers 3. DoD CDAO sponsorship with explicit targeting of SBIR opportunities The highlights that should concern you as a potential Gov/Mil participant: 1. A target right environment of eager and capable solution providers 2. A diverse set of capabilities on offer across a range of AI capabilities 3. DoD CDAO sponsorship to highlight and build funding partnerships Any of those reasons should be more than enough reason to at least consider participating, but ultimately the question you should ask yourself is with a cost so low, what have you got to lose? “Knowing is Half the Battle” 🧠 For more Insights, check out my website: https://lnkd.in/g8CFG8Xd

The #DoD is not a company. Say it with me now… the #dod is not a company. There are no private shareholders. There is no “CEO”. The business model is not the right frame. Sure… are there bureaucratic reasons to have better coordination between R&E and A&S? Yes. But there are good- legally required through Congress (because it’s the American taxpayer who pays for the budget) reasons- why there are different legal authorities and different incentive structures. This is not a *profit maximization* model. It’s a long and short term capabilities model that has to be equipped now, prepare for contingencies and plan for long term undetermined futures. Stop talking about it like a company.

This is especially true when we talk AI. In an ML-enabled system there is very little distinction between “development” and “sustainment” since the system needs to be continually learning and adapting to the environment in which it’s operating. No successful ML-enabled system is “set it and forget it”, it must be monitored and updated to be successful

One has to love this Forbes article if one really understands that there are really two types of R&D processes supported in DoD. There is little r&d, and that's where one sees SBIRs & Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) performed. And as the article eludes too, there is big R&D and that's what large Prime Contractors tend to do. A lot of little r&d, especially SBIRs is actually performed from a bottoms-up perspective, driven by seemingly end-user requirements. Big R&D is very much a top-down process, highly focused on risk mitigation (limited invention) and fielding in mind upfront. The difference is that for many SBIRs and BAA projects, even if successfully performed and risks are mitigated, do not have a funded follow-on plan. That is because transition is not part of the Gov't PM's job at that level. Conversely, big R&D starts out with a large team whose job it is to deliver the solution in a straight line to the warfighter. What would be helpful is if there was in-DoD-house process to independently evaluate post-SBIR/post-BAA work for follow-on merit, then fund those. Most small businesses won't outlast the long DoD procurement cycle, and that's why many helpful advancements die trying to cross the proverbial "valley of death".

This is a lasting and very historic debate. Innovation comes in many forms some from the user and some from the sciences and R&D. We all agree that R&D needs to be mission focused and understand requirements. However, if it is pulled directly into acquisition then the R&D funding runs the risk of being absorbed into existing programs that are far over running in cost and schedule yet failing to deliver over hyped capabilities. This could lead to a state where our defense department is in a propetual race to integrate and adapt commercial capabilities faster than our adversaries with little long lasting advantage. If we fully tie R&D to known needs and fixing broken links in the chain we may never invent a new chain. No cell phone user would have agreed to spend $1,000 on a phone in the early 1990’s but today most people can’t think of a world without a smart phone. Corning continued to pursue fiber optics even when the telecom industry said they would never use it and today we have global interconnectivity because of fiber optics. Therefore, we must consider how to keep R&D calibrated to the mission and manage innovation and R&D with transition pathways in mind and plan for and fund those transition initiatives.

Discover the Army Catalyst Program! The Army Catalyst Program is designed to accelerate the development and integration of cutting-edge technologies to enhance military capabilities. Here's what you need to know: - Objective: To foster rapid innovation by collaborating with industry, academia, and other government agencies. - Focus Areas: Emphasizes areas like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber security, advanced materials, and more. - Support: Provides funding, resources, and mentorship to help bring innovative solutions from concept to implementation. - Partnerships: Encourages collaboration between small businesses, startups, and traditional defense contractors to drive technological advancements. - Impact: Aims to deliver advanced, mission-critical technologies to the Army, ensuring readiness and superiority on the battlefield. The Army Catalyst Program is a vital initiative for maintaining technological edge and operational effectiveness. #Innovation #ArmyCatalyst #Defense #ArmyResearch #Collaboration

The spirit of hui pū and laulima was evident throughout the AFCEA International AFCEA Hawaii #TechNetIndoPacific2024 conference. The commitment to strengthening our Indo-Pacific industrial base is growing from the shores of Waikiki to the conference center halls. I took note of several key themes at #TechNetIndo2024 that will shape the Indo-Pacific defense landscape: Integrating New Tech: • Advanced AI/ML solutions for maritime security • Quantum computing applications in cybersecurity • Distributed command and control systems Developing Partnerships: The conference reinforced that successful regional security depends on strong partnerships between: • Local businesses and prime contractors • Military and commercial sectors • Island nations and mainland resources These insights are critical for supporting the warfighter in this emerging contested theater. Engaging with dialed-in stakeholders ready to rise to the occasion and support the various #IndoPac initiatives was refreshing. These companies demonstrate a forward-looking focus on what is necessary to support #Indopacdeterrance and the changing warfare landscapes of the future. Does your company have an #indopacificstrategy?? Chris Shriner, PMP VMware Lewis Wheeler Hitachi Vantara Brad Stockholm CDSG (CRU Data Security Group) Ken Kassner Obsidian Solutions Group Stephanie Hutch Makai Rick English SMART Technologies John O'Leary DataRobot Rick English Phil Swift Mvation Worldwide Inc. William Scott V2X Inc Nigel Hughes Erin Miller SteelCloud Stephanie Brush MFGS, Inc. Ken Oakeson VMware Broadcom Brandon Pledger Julia Fernandez Liquidware Arthur Ford Tricentis